Vegan/Raw/Paleo friendly

This guilt inducing dessert has been transformed into a raw creation devoid of forbidden calories. Carrot cake is made with carrots, walnuts, almonds, shreds of coconut and cinnamon. I have two different frosting options below, one is from cashews and the other from coconut cream. They are even better than the traditional cream cheese frosting.  It’s intense nourishment, opulent look and celestial taste usually elicits cries of “It tastes better than the baked one”.

Ingredients

  • 7 carrots )I shred with grater attachment of food processor 
  • 1 cup almonds, soaked overnight
  • 11⁄2 cups walnuts or pecans
  • 1⁄2 cup flax seed (chia seed meal substitute or soak seeds for 15- 20 minutes), soaked 15-20 min
  • 1 cup shredded coconut (optional)
  • 1 cup raisins ( or Goji berries or golden berries)
  • 3 tablespoons ground chia seed meal 
  • 2-3 teaspoons cinnamon (to taste)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla, cardamom, nutmeg (1/2 tsp), clove powders
  • ¼ cup honey or coconut syrup or maple syrup
  • 2 Tbsp Coconut oil softened or melted
  • natural waxed paper  
  • spring form pan or 8 1/2x 11 inch glass pyrex baking dish

Preparation

  1. Process carrots through shredder attachment of food processor and remove, placing into a bowl. 
  2. Add regular blade back onto food processor and blend almonds and 1 cup of either walnuts or pecans, until they are well shredded but Not almond butter 
  3. Remove, transfer to a mixing bowl and fold in the soaked flax or chia seeds.
  4. Stir in shredded coconut, raisins, chia seed (flax) or meal, vanilla, and sweetener, shredded carrots and spices, and mix well with a spoon or even get your hands in there to get everything incorporated.
  5. Cut a long strip of natural waxed paper 2 inches wide and apply along the wall of
    springform pan. 
  6. Press mixture firmly into 10-inch springform pan. 
  7. Refrigerate for two hours.

Icing Ingredients

  • 1 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight or minimum of 2 hours
  • 1 cup raw coconut syrup, or honey or yucon syrup or a mixture- Or 1/3 cup monk fruit to taste
  • juice of 1⁄2 lemon
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla or more to taste,  
  • 2 Tbsp lecithin
  • 2 Tbsp coconut oil

Icing Procedure

  1. Blend cashews, sweetener, lemon juice, and vanilla in Vita-Mix blender or food processor until mixture is thick and creamy.
  2. Add 1/2 cake mixture to pan and frost middle layer. Add the other 1/2 of carrot cake mixture, gently pressing onto the middle layer of frosting. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Unmold cake from springform pan and place on a serving platter.
  3. Ice top and sides of cake and garnish with walnuts and a few shavings of carrot. Using a sharp knife or vegetable peeler, peel a carrot into spiral strips and make several cones for decoration.

Coconut Cream Frosting

Ingredients

  • 1 can coconut cream or 14 oz (if you don’t have coconut cream, you can use full fat coconut milk. Do not shake it. Place in fridge over night. Then scoop off the cream, but don’t use any of the water). Even a lot of coconut cream brands have a bunch of water in them, so get several cans so you can extract enough cream for this recipe.
  • 1/2 cup coconut butter or coconut manna
  • 2 Tablespoons sweetener, I like bocha sweet powdered sugar, which has 0 calories, and 0 glycemic index. It’s made from a squash. Or you can use maple syrup or honey. 
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or raw vanilla powder

Coconut Cream Frosting Procedure 

  1. Combine all ingredients into food processor. Don’t over blend or it will start to curdle. If this happens, just heat it up on the stove top on super low and then blend it again. Then place in a glass container and chill in the fridge. The frosting will harden a bit and you can easily spread it over the cake. 
  2. Unmold your cake from the spring form pan, or leave in the glass baking dish and frost your cake. Decorate with a few shreds of carrot on top, crushed pecans, or walnuts, raisins and a sprinkle of cinnamon. 

Buen Provecho!